Countercult Apologetics

What a morning here at seminary. First, sitting under Dr. Anthony Curto for Intro. to Apologetics and then the privilege of sitting under the preaching of Dr. John Carrick.

I have been waiting for this day for quite sometime. It was our first class in apologetics this semester. Dr. Curto was in Africa last week so we started a week late.

Dr. Curto started the class off in the right direction and I’ll probably do the same the next time I teach the subject. He began speaking about the nature of sanctification. Not only sanctification for our own piety, but sanctification in our thinking. Apologetics is a matter of sanctification of the heart and of the mind. If we are going to be used as effective tools in the hands of the Holy Spirit, we must be sanctified in our heart and our mind.

As a good presupper., he stated up front that the most important paradigm to understand; what will help you understand presuppositionalism is the creator-creature distinction. Everything, how we live and think, comes under this paradigm. If you do not grasp this paradigm, you will not grasp the true nature of apologetics.

Dr. Curto defined apologetics as “the strategy of setting forth the truthfulness of the Christian faith, and its right to the claim of the knowledge of God.” Van Til defined apologetics as the “vindication of the Christian philosophy of life, against the various forms of the non-Christian philosophy of life.”

He also made reference to the fact that if God has called us to anything, he has called us to be, first and foremost, ministers of the Word. How important this is in a day when people believe that God has called them to this or that ministry. There is nothing of the sort in the NT. More on all this later…

As I mentioned Dr. Carrick preached this morning in chapel. His text was John 11, the main emphasis being that Jesus is the resurrection and the life. All men will die. Death is a great power, a great titanic, death is our last enemy. Are you ready to face it? Have you mediated upon this great fact of life. As Donald Grey Barnhouse once said, “the death rate is one per person, we’re all going to make it.” How will you fare when faced with death. Dr. Carrick’s outline was two-fold: A Tremendous Claim and and a Tremendous Promise. “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies.”

They guys over at Apologetics.com did a show (Jan. 5) on the above. Click here to listen.

John Warwick Montgomery was recently (1/27/0 interviewed on Issues, etc. on the topic of Islam:

Here is Part 1 and Part 2. Interview open with a click from George Bush stated that Muslims and Christians have different faiths but the same God. Oh my!

Alvin Schmidt was also interviewed (1/17/07) on the topic of Islam. Here is Part 1 (starts 28:06) and Part 2.

PCA pastor John Yenchko was recently interview on Irons Sharpens Iron on the topic “Justification by Faith Alone: The Dividing Line Between True & False Religion”

If you know anything about the divide between the cults and Christianity, this is one of the more important issues.

Listen to the audio by clicking here.

Also, don’t forget Gary L. W. Johnson’s chapter The Reformation, Today’s Evangelicals, and Mormons: What Next? in By Faith Alone: Answering the Challenges to the Doctrine of Justification (Crossway, 2007).

My second semester at seminary has begun. We started last Tuesday so this week is my first full week (after taking a week long History of Philosophy course). The courses I’m taking are:

Hebrew I (with Dr. Ben Shaw)
Logic (with Dr. Joseph Pipa, Jr.) although I am auditing this course. I was able to get out of it due to taking a critical thinking course at Moody, but Greenville is requiring that I audit the course.
New Testament Introduction (with Dr. Sidney Dyer)
Introduction to Apologetics (with Dr. Anthony Curto).

I was able to transfer a NT Survey course, and so this course was waived at Greenville.

I would appreciate your prayers. Oh, and by the way, if for some reason you would be interested in financially supporting my family and I during seminary, we could certainly use the help.

We’ve all complained about the state of Christianity and even the pastors of our day. I heard someone say that instead of complaining, support a solid seminary or an individual who is training for pastoral ministry at a solid seminary. If you are interested contact me or the seminary or you could contact the Church we’re attending (864) 433-9965 (pastor Todd Buchner).

Ps. I am currently reading this book for some pastoral training. I’m reading a hard copy, but the whole text is online.

Listen to Ken Samples lectures from last year (finallly up online) titled A World of Difference: Putting Christian Truth-Claims to the Test. Click here to listen.

This from Anton Hein:

The freak show known as the Church of Scientology has released a statement regarding Andrew Morton’s book, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22658115/

Keep in mind that the Church of Scientology is known for its unethical behavior, some of which is codified in the writings of the liar who founded the cult. On this, see

Dead Agenting
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/d05.html

In this article, Andrew Morton dispels some of the misinformation already spread:

===Begin Quote===
Andrew Morton book dispels several Tom Cruise rumours
CP, via the Toronto Star, Canada
Jan. 14, 2008
http://www.religionnewsblog.com/20359/

[...] And there’s yet another falsehood Morton wishes to dispel, one the Scientologists have leapt upon with particular ferocity in an attempt to discount the book in the weeks leading up to its release: little Suri Cruise is not the result of Holmes being impregnated by the frozen sperm of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

All his biography says, in fact, is that some of the nuttier Scientologists in the fold hoped Suri might represent the second coming of Hubbard.

“It’s been useful for his side to use that to attack me, but it’s false. I don’t say it and I don’t say a lot of things, but that doesn’t mean that they’re not twisted and distorted to discredit me,” says Morton, who ran up against endless Scientology roadblocks as he researched the book.
[...]
===End Quote===

Since being in seminary, my life online has dwindled to just about nothing. There are a lot of positives in this, but there are some negatives as well (I’ll let you figure them out). Plus, we currently do not have internet access at home, which makes it hard to do anything online.

Currently I’m working on all things philosophy for a class on the history of philosophy, I’m in next week. It is Winterim class and there is much work to be done before the class starts. Class is from 9am-6pm all next week. Then the spring semester begins!

I received an Email today from someone wanting to submit an article to the Countercult Apologetics Journal. This was an online publication I put together a couple of years ago. Only one edition was posted (lots of good articles), which is currently offline (I certainly need to get this back up).

If you, or someone you know, would be interested in contributing an article to this journal let me know. At this time, I do not have the time to proof articles (please get someone else to do this). If you have an idea or something already prepared let me know. If five or six good articles come in, I’ll leave it at that number and post them online as soon as possible.

Stay tuned!

Fred Miller founder & Director of True Light Educational Ministry was interviewed on Iron Sharpens Iron discussing the Background and Teachings of Moon:

Part 1

Part 2.

According to Iron’s blog:

Two active disciples of Moon who were listening and angrily phoned in during the live broadcast in protest to the content of this interview certainly added interest to this lively and fascinating conversation!